Leaving Eel Pout on the ice to rot

So far this year I’ve seen 3 pout left on the ice I get it, they’re not a pretty fish but leaving them to lay and rot is wanton waste and no better then what goes on the the spring that gets everyone’s blood boiling .. Anyone leaving fish on the ice with no intention of eating it later should be smacked in the head with a frozen pout

Now that I’m off my soapbox – other than the 3 morons leaving them on the ice has anyone else on Mille Lacs been catching pout this year? It’s been several years for me now.

MM

I’ll never understand why people do that although I will say I see it a lot less now than I did 10 – 15 years ago. Guys would pile them in the snow outside their houses. Of course maybe we’re not seeing all the discarded pout around because the numbers in the lake are so low?

The one thing I do know is an eelpout is a young of the year perch eating machine. When there’s less little perch around, I catch more walleye. That’s why I like eelpout.

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I like eelpout.

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That’s going to come in handy some day. I’m saving it.

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I like eelpout.

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That’s going to come in handy some day. I’m saving it.

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IF you’re looking for a place to store it, let me know. I’m sure I can come up with a suggestion or two.

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I like eelpout.

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That’s going to come in handy some day. I’m saving it.

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IF you’re looking for a place to store it, let me know. I’m sure I can come up with a suggestion or two.

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Oh come on Jighead-two, it wasn’t that funny.

My brother got one on Saturday about 10-12 inches long otherwise I hadn’t seen one on Mille Lacs for a long time.

Thanks again for the tow in on Saturday.

Caught one last year on the pond. This year when I was up at LOW I cut one up for eating and just out of curiosity I opened up the belly. There were eight large whole crawdads and several other pieces. Couldnt believe how much was in its stomach.

All is not lost. I have watched numerous Bald Eagles making a feast of the eelpout left on the ice.

Waste is waste. If you don’t want to keep and eat it at least be man enough to put it back down the hole. My guess is the guys really are girlie’s and afraid to even touch it. Much easier to cut the line and let them flop.

Most likely they are related to the people who are just to damn busy to clean up after themselves at the end of season. You know the guys, the ones who leave all their garbage and blocks laying on the ice for the shore owners to deal with.

Real manly men.

Caught a large one on the northside this weekend. Buddy brought it home to cook the tail. Well see how that goes.

Being 31, I can remember as a kid that my dad and I used to leave small perch on the ice and possibly eel pout when we went to Mille Lacs. I recall seeing perch everywhere on small lakes and pout everywhere on Mille Lacs.

At some point, I recall my dad saying that we shouldn’t be doing that and that it was illegal. That one little comment at the time had affected me for the rest of my life. I never leave fish to die for any reason especially if they are a native species.

Yes I did say native species. Not that I let non-native species rot, but I have the most respect for the native species in our waters. They are an extremely important piece of the ecosystem of a body of water.

They are damn good eating. Only the ignorant would leave them.

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They are damn good eating. Only the ignorant would leave them.

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There are people down south who cannot believe us northerners will not pull over and pick-up that roadkill raccoon…. yummy

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They are damn good eating. Only the ignorant would leave them.

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There are people down south who cannot believe us northerners will not pull over and pick-up that roadkill raccoon…. yummy

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Why do you have to pick on the Iowa guys